Large Projects Monitored

MDHR posts the workforce participation rates for minorities and women working on large state construction projects monitored by the Department because of the impact that such large state construction projects can have on employment opportunities in Minnesota.

We define a large construction project as a project that is likely to require more than 10,000 labor hours to complete. Minorities are defined under Minnesota law for the purposes of workforce participation as follows: 

• Black, persons having origins of any of the Black African racial groups not of Hispanic origin; 
  
• Hispanic, persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central American, South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race;
• Asian and Pacific Islander, persons having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, or the Pacific Islands; and
• American Indian or Alaskan Native, persons having origins in any of the original peoples of North America and maintaining identifiable tribal affiliations through membership and participation or community identification.

The information presented below is a point-in-time snapshot that is based, in part, upon the last monthly report submitted by the contractor to MDHR.

Workforce Participation Goals

The commissioner periodically adjusts workforce participation goals for state construction projects. The commissioner issued revised workforce participation goals for minorities on construction projects in April of 2012 in response to Minnesota"s changing demographics. The workforce participation goals for Hennepin and Ramsey county projects were adjusted to 32%; in Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Scott and Washington County the workforce participation goals were adjusted to 22%.

In 2011, the workforce participation rate for minorities for all projects in Minnesota was 12.69%. In 2012, the workforce participate rate grew to 16.85%; in 2013, the participation climbed to 21.54% and in 2014, the participation rate swelled to 27.52%. Please check out Participation Goals to review current workforce participation statistics.